Hello all. I launched an actual play podcast this past week. We're playing Masks: A New Generation, my entry point for PBTA. Check it out, share it with your friends. I've learned a lot from the experience and a lot of work has gone into production.

If it is even possible to pick one!

I think if I had to pick one, it would be Escape From Dino Island - a Jurassic Park inspired game where you are dealing with dinosaurs on an island! It has some great world and adventure building mechanics to kick off the game, and I think one of its best features is a mechanic called "Tell a Story". When you take an action when you're not in danger, you pick from a list of story prompts your character would tell, and tell a story as you complete the action. It's a really nice cinematic action/downtime split built directly into the mechanics, and really gives you a helping hand with structure. It's probably my favourite PbtA game to introduce new players to the system!

Next would be:

Girl Underground - inspired by Alice in Wonderland, and Labyrinth. You collectively play a girl and her fantastic companions, figuring out how you interpret or reject the expectations and rules imposed on young girls. A beautiful and thought-provoking game!

Monster of the Week - think Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, X-Files, Fringe etc. Modern monster hunting and mystery solving!

Hi all!

Has anyone played the latest version of Rapscallion?

Rapscallion is an adventure game about pirates sailing on a dangerous, magical sea. It's got a lot of unexpected elements to it!

I played the original Ashcan and loved it a lot, haven't got around to trying the new Quickstart version yet.

I've run and played a lot of Apocalypse World, but have only recently read the Burned Over hackbook. Is there anything I should keep in mind when running this "new edition?" It seems pretty straightforward to me.

I'm also curious to read about which gamechangers people elected to use (and how they played out in the end), which new playbook is your favorite, and whether you prefer standard 2E or Burned Over.

This is a somewhat-exhaustive taxonomy of PbtA games, tracking ten different systemic mechanical elements in each, and a loose kind of succession between them.

Well, three years later is not "exhaustive" anymore but still a nice overview.